Photo credit: Ksenia Makagonova
My coworker recently underwent hip surgery. Texting with her, I asked how her recovery process is coming along.
She had a response that might be like anyone’s: At first she felt noticeably better than before the surgery, and accomplished things physically to her surprise, but then pushed herself too hard, and then not only brought back some pain and dysfunction, but also she regretted “doing too much, too fast”.
I replied in one sentence, which burst out on its own: Healing is a slow-motion conversation with God. (Fill in your substitute word for God as you choose.) This was an odd sentence from me to a coworker—we never discuss God, or anything spiritual.
After experiencing many small and several large health relapses over the decades, I sometimes get the staggering reminder that healing has its own pace, as determined by both the magical inner nature of our bodies-minds-hearts-and spirits—(our inner grace)– and also the environment we intentionally select. This environment includes the nutritional matrix we literally supply our bodies through our mouths, including the water we drink and the air we breathe. Other environments that our inner grace has a conversation with: Our homes, the people we surround ourselves with, the awareness and management of our mental chatter, and even the food we feed our spirit: whether it be art or love or nature or prayer.
Healing is one forkful or spoonful of food at a time, one thought at a time, one person you see at a time, one meditation at a time, one fully-explored emotion at a time, one task at a time, one breath at a time.
That’s a lot of time and a seemingly stressful agenda, isn’t it? I find the opposite resultà Doing less, being more.
Paying attention to the smallest of choices—from which lettuce I buy to the thought I just caught myself in– plus getting plenty of quality sleep when needed, is a magic formula. (If you’re a poor sleeper, I hope you explore the natural means necessary to help yourself. It is priority.)
This pace is my end of the slow-motion conversation with God. Patience and quiet is the welcome mat for a response.
With consciousness and intentionality, whether for a broken bone or a broken heart, the time will go by. Healing may be elusive in response to force, and healing may catch you off-guard when gently invited.
And even if you don’t expect healing, I’d be the first to suggest: to expect healing. Even when it’s a struggle, I do as my teacher Katherine says, and “dwell in possibility”. I’ll save the quantum physics thoughts-influencing-matter soapbox for another post. 😉
In the meantime, I hope you take good care, take your time, be well, and be whole.
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